Meridian Gallery is pleased to present TRANS: form | colo
r the San Francisco manifestation of a series of international travelin
g shows by nine artists from Japan\, Germany and the United States who are
engaged in a dialogue about Painting and Abstraction.

Begun as
an in-person and online conversation between Richard Schur in Munich\, Mel
Prest in San Francisco and Brent Hallard in Tokyo\, TRANS has grown
into an exhibition with nine artists. Three of the artists hail from German
y\, four artists live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area\, one in upsta
te New York and one lives and works in Tokyo\, Japan. Working both internat
ionally and in a variety of approaches to Abstraction\, the artists have cr
eated this show as a visual dialogue between themselves and as a means to j
oin today's contemporary painting dialogue.

The show poses ques
tions of cultural/aesthetic difference\, as well as\, the ways that the wor
ks align both formally and conceptually\, with a range of abstraction spann
ing hard-edge\, optical\, minimal\, expressive and conceptual. An aspect of
the artists’ continuing dialogue is the installation of TRANS: form | c
olor\, which is done onsite by the artists together. This convergence o
f approach and locale creates a dynamic and timely exhibition.

E
ach of the artists work with optically engaging abstraction whose roots lie
in different twentieth century trajectories\, yet the work is very much of
the twenty first century\, with its awareness of history as well as concep
tual concerns and aesthetics of contemporary painting.

“…These p
ainters\, calling themselves TRANS\, meeting in person or on the Int
ernet\, found that they share a common interest in the painting process\, p
ure\, and often not so simple. Unlike previous groups\, they share no commo
n ideology and they certainly are not likely to publish a manifesto. And t
hey all agree that it is the viewer's response\, which completes the work…”
—Peter Selz

TRANS:Abstraktion opened in November 2
007 at Weltraum\, a non-profit gallery space in Munich\, Germany. In March
2009 TRANS:formal traveled to Pharmaka\, a non-profit space in Los
Angeles. Each show includes new work by each artist --thus keeping a fresh
and ongoing dialogue. TRANS: form | color at Meridian Gallery will b
e the first time all artists will be present at the exhibition.